This invention relates to a high ambient liquid pressure-resistant electrical connector for connecting a solenoid actuated valve having a plurality of terminals to a multi-conductor electrical cable for use with an airgun lowered down into ambient liquid in a well, wherein the electrical connector may be subjected to high ambient liquid pressures.
In accord with new seismic surveying techniques, powerful impulses are generated underground in liquid in boreholes and are utilized to investigate subsurface geological conditions and formations. The powerful impulses are generated by pressurized gas discharging apparatus referred to as airguns which are fired when the highly pressurized gas is caused to be abruptly released or discharged from the airgun into the surrounding environment. Firing of the airgun is accomplished by the actuation of a solenoid valve for causing flow of pressurized gas through a passageway in the airgun, and this valve is actuated by sudden electrical energization through conductors in an electrical cable.
The integrity of the electrical connections must be maintained in difficult environmental conditions where liquid pressures deep in a borehole are extremely high. The advent of ever increasing depths of drilling in order to find new sources of petroleum increases the problem. If liquids leak or seep into the regions where the electrical terminals of the solenoid valve are connected to the electrical conductors of the cable, such connections may become short circuited or disrupted, thus causing expensive interruption of the seismic surveying.